South Africa

Illovo’s first presence in South Africa can be traced back to KwaZulu-Natal in 1891, when Sir Charles George Smith set in motion a series of events that would ultimately result in the establishment of Africa’s biggest sugar producer - Illovo Sugar Africa (PTY) Ltd. Listed on the JSE Limited in 1992, Illovo’s corporate head office is in Durban, providing strategic, financial, operational, technical, commercial, human resources and corporate support to its extensive operations across six African countries.

The operations of Illovo Sugar (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd (Illovo SA), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Illovo group, include the cultivation of sugar cane and production of raw and refined sugar, syrup together with, the downstream products of furfural, furfuryl alcohol, Agriguard, diacetyl, 2.3-pentanedione and ethanol, together with lactulose. Illovo’s sugar markets are largely domestic, with sales to the world raw sugar market. Downstream products are primarily export-focused. The company also operates a state-of-the-art sugar warehouse and distribution centre providing a strategic link between its sugar factories KwaZulu-Natal and its nationally-based customers. There are six sugar producers in South Africa with combined production of around 2 million tons.

Business Profile

Situated in KwaZulu-Natal

Three agricultural estates; four sugar factories; one refinery; three wholly-owned downstream plants / 50% share in a distillery